Fighting Through It
by hotcops
Summary: When someone from Andy's childhood dies, does it finally give her the push she needs to fix her own life?
1. Chapter 1

Andy and Nick walked into the station pulling along a drunk they had picked up puking on Bloor Street. They had been partnered together for the last two months, ever since Jerry's death. He had helped her get over her break up with Sam and they had gotten very close since Gail left to Europe for two months. They were each other's lifelines, keeping each other afloat.

"Officer McNally you have a visitor at the front desk." The voice boomed over the loud speaker.

Andy and Nick separated in the Bull Pen; Nick to start on his paperwork for the day, and Andy to the front desk. She was reading something on her phone as she walked up to the front desk.

"Andy."

She hadn't heard that voice in person in months, even though she talked to him on the phone almost every week. She looked up straight into the eyes of her best friend. The only difference was his usually kind eyes were haunted.

"Kelly? What's going on? Why are you here? Did something happen?" She rambled frantically. He looked around the station, his eyes drifting from person to person but never landing on her as he stuttered out, "An…Andy Darden…he di…he died yesterday…in a fire."

"NO! You're wrong! I just talked to him! He can't be dead," she yelled out as she collapsed into his waiting arms.

Everyone in the station turned to the sound of the voice only to be surprised by the image of Andy sobbing in the stranger's arms as silent tears left a trail down his face. They stood that way for almost ten minutes until she finally remembered they were in the middle of the station. She silently pulled him with her to Frank's office, her body working on autopilot.

She quietly knocked on the door and was waved in. Frank took one look at her and immediately knew something was wrong.

"Sir, I would like to request a leave of absence. A close friend of mine died and I need to go to the states for the funeral."

"Of course, McNally. You can take the rest of the week off and if you need more time just let me know. I'll take care of the paperwork.

"Thank you, sir. And could you please not tell anyone, I just want to deal with this in peace?"

"Absolutely. This will stay between us. My condolences."

"Thank you, sir," she said, never once looking up to meet his eyes. He knew that look in her eyes, the one a person only got when someone absolutely essential in their life had passed. The one many of his officers had just started to move beyond.

She walked out of his office and straight into Kelly's arms. They slowly walked to the locker rooms, and he waited outside as she changed. Ten minutes later they walked out of the station with his arm around her and her head on his shoulder. What neither of them noticed was the eight sets of eyes watching them, wondering who the mystery man was and what in the world could have possibly extinguished the flame that burned so brightly in their sister in blue.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: For some context- this is happening right after Jerry died/Sam broke up with Andy. Andy and Nick are close because Gail ended up getting suspended and left for Europe leaving Nick. This is also right at the beginning of Chicago Fire right after Andy Darden died in the house fire. **

* * *

Two days later, Andy McNally walked into the station for the first time since finding out about the death of Andy Darden. They had been best friends since middle school, practically inseparable, so his death was particularly difficult for her to deal with.

She kept her head down, trying to avoid having to talk to anyone. She made it to Frank's office without any difficulties. Frank looked up when he heard a knock on his door only to see one of his finest officers looking absolutely broken; the pain clear in her eyes.

"Come in." He waved her in and watched slowly walked in, keeping her head down and whispered, "Sir, I would like to put in a request for indefinite leave of absence."

"Is everything okay, McNally?" Frank asked. He had rarely seen someone looking as broken as his officer did right now, the light completely gone from her eyes.

"Yes, sir. I just need to go and deal with some stuff. I don't know how long it will take or if I will even come back. Please don't tell anyone, I don't want to have to explain anything yet," she said in a near whisper, her voice cracking as she talked.

Frank's heart ached for her, but despite his curiosity of what could possibly extinguish that lion's heart so quickly; he bit his tongue and stayed quiet while she talked. "Of course Andy, I'll work it out myself."

"Thank you, sir. Have a nice day."

"You too, McNally. And if you ever need anything, we're all here for you, even Sam."

She took a deep breath as she turned around, trying to keep the tears at bay. Now wasn't the time to think about Sam. She had to meet Kelly and head to the airport to fly to Chicago. Without saying a word, she opened the office door and left. Walking back through the bullpen, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, her mind lost in memories of all the adventures she had with Darden and Severide throughout middle, high school and college. They had been best friends from the moment she joined their sixth grade class.

She thought back to how she got there. After her mother left, Tommy McNally started swimming his way to the bottom of a bottle, and after a short time, on a particularly sober day, decided he wasn't fit to take care of Andy anymore and sent her to live with his sister in Chicago. Two weeks after she started living there, winter break ended and she started her spring semester of sixth grade at Taft Middle School. Her first day of school, she was joined at her lunch table by two boys. All of them were new to the school. Kelly Severide had just moved from Springfield with his mom, after his dad left them; and Andy Darden had transferred schools because he had gotten into a fight with a kid who had been bullying his little sister.

All of them being new to the school, they quickly became friends, often hanging out after school, doing homework and playing sports together. Kelly dubbed Andy Darden "Drew" to distinguish the two of them. From that first day on, they became the three musketeers.

Andy was shaken from her thoughts when she ran into someone. "Sorry" she muttered quietly and continued her trek out the sally port to the waiting taxi.

Sam watched her as she walked through the bullpen, pain etched on her face. His whole body ached for her. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and make it all better. She never even looked up, he noted, just apologized quietly and kept going, obviously still preoccupied with her own thoughts. He was worried about her; all of them had been since her sudden departure two days prior. As he continued to make his way to parade, his thoughts stayed on her and how he had made the biggest mistake of his life leaving her in that parking lot.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been two months since Andy had suddenly left for Chicago without a word and no one had heard from her since. They were starting to get worried.

Traci walked into Parade one day with one goal in mind: to find out where her friend had gone and if she was okay. Her first stop after parade was to gather everyone else and see if they had heard anything.

"Have any of you heard from Andy recently?" She asked once they were all gathered in an empty interrogation room. She was answered with a bunch of "no's" and head shakes.

"I haven't seen her since she up and left two months ago, I'm starting to get worried," Nick piped up. They all were. It had to be serious for Andy not to call anyone for two months. "I think we need to pay her a visit or something, make sure she's okay."

"We don't even know where she is or what she's doing," piped up Chris from the corner of the room, "We need to call her first, make sure everything's ok before just showing up."

"How about I'll keep trying Andy until she picks up and if she doesn't by tomorrow, someone will go check up on her. "

"Umm, I have a friend in Chicago PD, Antonio Dawson, I can ask him to check on her and if anything is wrong then we...or someone... can go and make sure she's ok," muttered Sam from the corner of the room. He didn't have a right to care about her, not after what he did to her, but he loved her, he really did. He just didn't know how to handle Jerry dying so instead if pulling her close and never letting go, like he wanted to, he had pushed her away. Now that she was MIA and obviously going through a very difficult time, his heart physically ached for her. He would do anything to take away her pain.

"Give me a second, I'll call him right now," Sam said, already reaching for his phone. He dialed the number and put it on speaker set the phone on the table so everyone could hear.

"Hey buddy! Long time no talk," came the voice from the phone.

"Yeah it's been a while. I'm calling for a favor."

"Anything. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you could find a friend of ours. Something happened and she went back to Chicago for a funeral two months ago, and we haven't heard from her since. We're starting to get worried because she hasn't called at all. Her names Andy McNally."

"Andy? Sure I know her. She's practically a celebrity down at firehouse 51. One of the guys down there died a couple months back, Drew Darden and they all took it pretty hard. My sisters a paramedic down there and she told me Andy had stayed at the firehouse everyday from the day she flew down for two weeks until they left. They're all like siblings. It was a tough loss."

Everyone in the room exchanged confused looks. No one but Traci even knew that Andy had family in Chicago.

Antonio continued, "We used to hang out a lot when Andy was still in college and Kelly and Drew were just starting out at the firehouse. Those three were inseparable. Andy was the one who set Drew up with his wife. When Drew died Andy and Kelly took it really hard. It was like their brother died. But Andy and Kelly should be back soon for a little bit. If you want to see her you should come visit."

"What do you mean back?" Interrupted Sam.

"You don't know?"

"No."

"The two of them, they wanted to honor Drew. I don't know how to tell you this, Sam...they enlisted. They're coming back from basic training in two weeks before they ship out for nine months."

Oliver was the first to break the silence, "What?!" He practically shouted.

"Umm, about a week after Kelly came back with Andy, they had a memorial service, just the guys from the house and Andy. Gabby said Andy and Kelly were taking it harder than everyone else. It was always Drew's dream to join the army and they honored his legacy by enlisting. They went off to basic training in North Carolina a month and a half ago. They have two weeks off after that to pack up before they ship out. The guys at the firehouse say they're staying here for a week to say bye to the guys at the house then they're both going to Toronto so Andy could say bye to her dad," Antonio continued on oblivious to the complete shock that currently filled the interrogation room.

"If you want to see her, you'll have to do it then," he finished and left the group to their thoughts.


End file.
